A collaborative project has launched in France that aims to reduce the environmental impact of floating wind turbines.
The Velella project has secured a grant of €5.7m as part of the “France 2030” programme implemented by ADEME.
Velella aims to qualify several technologies and innovations to prepare the deployment of commercial floating wind projects under the best economic, social and environmental conditions.
The Velella R&D project brings together internationally recognised industrial and academic players, including BW Ideol, as consortium and project leader, Centrale Nantes, the OPEN-C Foundation and ENSTA Bretagne.
The project will rely on the proven and patented floating technology designed by BW Ideol to structure its research and innovation activities.
The first part of the project will aim to optimise the economic and environmental performance of the BW Ideol floater, for deployment with larger turbines (>20 MW).
The second part will feature the on-site deployment of mooring lines made up of innovative materials, and by the implementation of new underwater surveillance and inspection methods to further reduce costs during operation.
The evaluation of socio-economic impacts and the structuring of the floating wind power sector will form the third aspect of the project.
Finally, all efforts will be guided by an eco-design approach, where each innovation will be analysed and assessed from life cycle analysis (LCA), recyclability and potential consequences on the marine environment points of view.
Tests will be carried out on various sites and assets owned by the partners, including BW Ideol’s Floatgen wind turbine operating for the last five years at Centrale Nantes’s SEM-REV test site off Le Croisic, test site now operated by the OPEN-C Foundation.
“We are very happy to receive support from ADEME for this project. Velella is a key project whose objective is to develop technologies and methods to reduce the construction and operating costs of floating wind farms, while improving reliability and mitigating environmental impact.
“The environment is becoming a priority and this project is once again an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment in this area,” said Paul de la Guérivière, CEO of BW Ideol.